Over the years, integration of computer and telephone technologies has brought many advances in the telecommunication industry. Functionally integrating human operators with telephone network capabilities, voice and data switching capabilities, computer applications and databases, and voice processing technology not only provides human operators with immediate access to information from a wide variety of sources, but allows them to intelligently process each call as well. Telephone switches are linked with computers to coordinate computer information and intelligence with call handling capabilities to automatically add relevant data, as well as facsimile, graphics, video or audio communication capabilities. Select services or equipment such as automatic number identification (ANI) or dialed number identification service (DNIS) enhance calls and human capabilities by forwarding identifying information with a telephone call, thereby, eliminating steps otherwise performed by an operator to capture information regarding the caller. For applications involving large scale processing of calls, switch and host databases automatically link a call with a caller's record, eliminating the need for the caller to enter an identification number when using a voice response system.
More revolutionary applications use ANI to simultaneously pass both the call and the caller's current record to an operator's telephone and terminal. This obviates the need for the operator to obtain, enter and receive the caller's record from the database. Such advances have immensely enhanced human capabilities.
Somewhat concurrently, rapid developments in computer, telephone and video technologies have introduced the concept of visual communications or video conferencing. In particular, efforts at integrating these technologies have gained enormous momentum in recent years, resulting, in part, from a general desire in all industries to conserve time and expenses, and thereby, maximize human efficiency and productivity. The advent of videophones has enabled users to visually communicate from remote locations. Many industries are rapidly embracing the idea of video conferencing to eliminate escalating travel expenses. Employees or customers in different places can take part in interactive training sessions or seminars with no loss of time for travel. However, obstacles remain, particularly in traditional areas of cumbersome communication. Still, with developments, virtually every industry segment can profit from interactive data sharing in real time with the added advantage of face-to-face communication. Innovative technical advances are fast satisfying promises of enhanced capabilities, thereby allowing users to share and manipulate images from remote locations, such as pictures, graphs, maps or the like.
Technical breakthroughs in audio and video compression technology make desktop video conferencing both economical and practical for everyday business communications. To fully participate in video conferencing, the user's equipment must communicate with similar units, albeit from different equipment vendors. The International Telephone and Telegraph Consultative Committee (CCITT) has defined a standard called H.261 (or "Px64") detailing how video and audio signals are compressed and decompressed for transmission across a common link. At present, video conferencing systems do not necessarily comply to an industry standard and format. As a consequence, many types of video codecs are currently in use. At any rate, ongoing efforts at achieving compatibility and providing compression schemes that can transmit color images over POTS (plain old telephone system) all over the world are in the offing.
To consider an example of cumbersome communication, in the merchandising industry, vendors or sellers of goods typically spend many hours attempting to schedule appointments with various buyers for different organizations, travelling to and from the buyers' facilities and waiting for meetings, which may sometimes last only a short duration. Unfortunately, considerably more time and expense also is incurred in travelling to and from different facilities than is desirable. Moreover, as a practical matter, specific vendors typically are assigned to specific goods and interact with specific buyers, resulting in a need for more vendors dedicated to particular buyers.
As another example, drug and medical device manufacturers typically hire "detail" persons to travel and visit medical professionals such as doctors, pharmacologists, hospital representatives or the like, located at widely distributed areas around the country and the world to introduce details on new drugs and demonstrate new medical devices. These "detail" persons generally spend a majority of their time waiting to see medical doctors, often to receive only a few minutes of a doctors precious time. Many times, the waiting proves to be futile, especially in circumstances where doctors are summoned for emergencies or are otherwise busy. Also, as a consequence of uncertain schedules and time pressures, medical doctors often feel pressured by a "detail" person waiting at their offices.
Accordingly, the present invention recognizes the need for systems to communicate with remote locations over a widely distributed area from other places, as a central location, for the applications discussed above as well as many other diverse applications with similar requirements.